Why Go to Church?

There is a lot of talk these days about how going to church is no longer necessary. Our technology provides us with preaching on TV, Internet, Iphones and various other communication tools. We can fellowship on facebook, twitter, and other chat rooms. But the best reason that I think a Christian believer should go to church is because Jesus did! Luke 4:16 says that “as was His custom, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath” (emphasis mine). Jesus did not go to church because of what he could get out of it, he went because it pleased God. Our commitment to church every week is not based on if we feel like it or not, but it is based on what God gets out of our going. God wants us to be there – personally- because you and I are the Body of Christ and where two or three are gathered, God is in our midst.

There is much we have yet to learn about the spiritual function of gathering together to worship. Our “church” family is as important, if not more important, than our physical family. Anne Ortlund in her book Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman puts it this way:

Let me tell you about my friend Bruce’s family of schnauzers. We paid a visit when mamma schnauzer had her puppies. The whole family of them were in a playpen in the kitchen. That enclosure was their whole world, and those tiny pups snuggled to their mother for warmth, food, love – everything they needed.

They had no idea that they were totally dependent on a larger family, a human family – Bruce, June, and their children – who were (under God) the ultimate source of the provision of all their needs.

Your physical family can provide you with warmth food and love, but recognize that the true source of godly love, warmth, nourishment, and togetherness comes from a larger family – the eternal family – your faith community.

The Scriptures tell us to use our gifts to nourish the Body of Christ and to draw nourishment from the Body so that all of us (adult singles, young people without Christian parents, and married without spouses) will be able to feel cared for, loved and nourished in God’s beautiful forever-family. When we are loved, fed and prayed for in our church family, the relationships in our physical family are wonderfully healed and nurtured.

Paul holds us, the family of God, to be the highest of all human relationships when he says to the Philippians, “It is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart…. God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more.” (Phil.1:7-9)

In every one of our lives there is a can of worms. There are skeletons in the closet of every human being. We need Christ and we need each other to grow into the people God created us to be. It may be painful or even embarrassing, but God has given us each other to help us grow into the full stature of Christ.

Pentecost

Yard Sale

Recently our church hosted a “Yard Sale”. Actually, it was held in our parish hall, but still it involved collecting used items that people had in their homes that they no longer had need of. We received some very nice items that showed little or no use. We also received items that had shown much use and a lot of love. What amazed me about the items collected was the variety of “things” that people have in their possession. Some items were very useful in their function, other items were hard to determine what they were used for and still some items were beautiful and others plain ugly. For the people who donated the “things” in our sale, well, they no longer had use for them or they had stored them for so long that the space the item was taking up was needed for something else.

As I walked among the tables that held these “things”, I began to think of the old axiom “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. As I pondered this idea, what surfaced was how we as people see each other verses the way that God see all of us. For many, people are viewed as objects, what can be gotten out of another, what can they do for me, how will this benefit me. People, if they do not meet the criteria that a particular group sets, well then, they do not measure up and therefore are seen as “junk”. But in God’s eyes, we are all seen as precious treasures or another way of saying it – as collectibles.

There are two primary characteristics of collectibles: desirability and rarity. You have heard the saying that “God does not make junk”. This holds true to the way that God sees you and me. We are collectible. We are wanted because God desires you and me. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16). You and I have been chosen by God – God desires us. But unlike the collectibles we have, God does not place us on a shelf to be admired. God calls us to go and bear fruit, that is, to share God’s love and caring with those around us.

Rarity, another characteristic of a collectible, is how God views us. No one on this earth who has ever lived is just like you. Oh, there may be someone who may look like you, such as a twin, but to be exactly like you – there is none. That is why people can be identified by their DNA. God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) and  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). God tenderly and lovingly created us. God could have just thrown us together with a snap of the finger, but no, God chose a delicate, intimate way of forming us in our mother’s womb. God has been completely involved in creating you and me as a rare creature designed to love and be loved.

One man’s junk may be another man’s treasure, but in God’s eyes there is only treasure to be found. For you and I are desirable and rare from God’s perspective.

Alleluia, the Lord has risen!

"Why do you weep?" This question was asked of Mary at the tomb of Jesus by two angels and Jesus, himself. Death is not the end of the story of Jesus nor is it the end of our stories. Jesus first spoke to Mary at the tomb and yet she did not hear him. She saw him as a gardener because she expected Jesus to be dead. The saying, "What we perceive is our reality", holds true with Mary and the other disciples. If we do not expect God to work in and through our lives, then the chances are that we will never see evidence of God's hand in our lives.

"Why do you weep?" Jesus spoke to Mary, but she did not hear. Is Jesus speaking to you? Is he asking to be recognized (perceived) by you as the Jesus who is alive - the Jesus who is risen? What does your heart want to answer? This Easter season, take a moment to listen to your heart and perceive the risen Lord. Alleluia, Christ has risen. The Lord has risen, indeed!

Refiner's Fire

Recently at St. B's we were able to bless our new fire pit that we constructed back in December 09. It was such a wonderful time to be together as a church family. Not only did we thank God for our beautiful setting, we were also able to enjoy some hotdogs, smores, and just spend time relaxing and sharing our stories. There is something about fire that stirs within each of us a myrid of emotions.

In scripture, God is represented many times by the image of fire.  The danger and mystery that fire invokes has a way of touching our souls. In Malachi (3:2b-4) it says, "For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness." God is constantly working on our behalf to burn away the things that keep us from fully loving and being loved by Him.

In Hebrews, God is a consuming fire. For many that can take on a very negative, fearful understanding of God. But what if we looked at it a little differently.  In the Gospel of Matthew (3:11) John the Baptist says "...but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." God is a consuming fire, baptizing you and me with fire. This could mean that God so desires you and I to the extent that our Creator is willing to totally engulf and immerse us in his love as a fire consumes and absorbs everything in its path. By consuming us, we are transformed into the image of Christ. God wants us to be whole and complete the way we are intended to be.

As we journey through Holy Week experiencing the path that Christ took to the cross and then the excitement beyond, remember that God so desires to not just be a part of your life -- but desires to consume all of your life, thereby allowing true life, resurrected life to shine forth.

De Colores - The Many Colors of God

What an exciting weekend Dave and I have had! We have just come back from Honey Creek after a wonder-filled Cursillo weekend. All the love and excitement we experienced has left us both exhausted – but exhausted in a good way.

In reflecting on some of the things that we experienced, one thing (of many) stood out to me and that is the “colors”. Rainbow colors everywhere. Reds, blues, yellows, greens, oranges, purples, blacks, browns, pinks – all the colors one could name. But have you ever wondered, “What color is God?” The use of colors in scripture and our tradition is vast.

According to the law of color, there are three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. All other colors are a combination of these three colors. White is the combination of all the primary colors and black is the absence of any color.

When white light is focused through a spectrum, the colors contained in the white light forms bands of color. We see this in the form of a rainbow. Psalm 19: 1-2 says, “The heavens are telling the Glory of God and their expanse shows the work of His handiwork. Day to day they speak and night to night reveals knowledge.”

It is said that the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) represent the character of God. The secondary colors that are formed from these primary colors represent the roles of God as He seeks to reconcile one character to another within us. The colors of black and white reflect the status of the human life as we either reject or accept the living God.

Red is the sacrifice of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor.” Ephesians 1:7 [AMP] It means life. The blood of Christ cleanses us making us a holy people. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Yellow or gold signifies the Holy Spirit in our hearts. If we compare two passages of Scripture we see that fire is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11) and "There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:3-4). Fire refines and can change material from one form to another. Fire purifies, warms, and illuminates. God changes us by purifying our character through the Holy Spirit in to gold. “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich.” (Revelation 3:18) “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:3)

Blue speaks of God, the Father and Creator of the world. God is in covenant with us. God covers and shields us with His mercy until all are brought into right relationship with Him. Blue is the color of the sky and sea, it has often symbolized divinity, as well as height and depth and breath of God. It represents God’s Glory. “And they saw the God of Israel and under his feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”(Exodus 24:10)

White is the perfect balance of all three – in love. Love motivates you and I to allow the completeness of God (the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to be lived out in and through us. Come now let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18) God is not just one of these colors, but much more. The colors are only distinctions that God is working to reconcile you and me to Himself.

Black is not a mixture of any color because it is the total absence of all colors. There is no connection to God. Christ became sin for us when he hung on the cross so that you & I might come into right relationship with God. “He made Him who know no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Our journey is no longer in darkness, but in light.

It is the visible spectrum of light that is the part of our everyday vocabulary. The colors of the rainbow paint our world with the beauty of God’s grace production. The shades and combinations of the basic colors give way to thousands of colors that thrill and delight our world. For those who walk in the light of God’s grace, color in our world helps us understand divine truth giving you and I a vivid artistic portrayal of God’s plan for our lives.